I think I see your problem. When your professor says to you "the best matching network is a conjugate match", what he really means to say is "the best match that optimizes power transfer to the load is a lossless conjugate matching network".
If I had a 10 ohm load, that I was trying to match to a 50 ohm source, one could obviously "match" this by using 40 ohm series resistor. The reflection coefficient would be zero, and you would have a perfect match. Unfortunately, most of the power will be dissipated into the "matching network" as heat, instead of getting into the load where it will do the most good. So from a power transfer point of view, it was a lousy match!
Stick to lossless matching networks for most applications. The only exceptions to this is where you have to provide some lossy match for stability reasons, or where you have RF power to burn!